Skip to main content

tv   Sanjay Gupta MD  CNN  July 16, 2011 4:30am-5:00am PDT

4:30 am
from parents who are too fat. we understand what yo are trying to do, but is it in the child's best interest? maybe it is the society where junk food is plentiful. it is one criticism of the researchers. in this country, we take kids away from parents when their life is in danger. for some crazy reason a parent doesn't want a child to have surgery to save their life. the state will take that child away to make sure the child gets that surgery. obesity usually isn't emineimmiy life threatening. lots of criticism of this. definitely getting people talking. t.j. i'm back at the top of the hour. right now is the good doctor. >> i'm dr. sanjay gupta. this fall will mark a full decade that the united states has been at war.
4:31 am
it has left a mark. in many ways, the strong connection between the battlefield and medical care at home. i work at a level one trauma center at grady hospital. some of the techniques that we use, for example, cutting out part of the skull to relieve pressure on the brain was developed in the military. in the last decade out of necessity. it is not a one-way connection. we have barbara starr who spent time with a group of doctors and medical technicians who are all getting ready to deploy. for these men and women, heading off to war, a big city hospital like the one where i work, can be a perfect training ground. >> this doctor stops to check on an injured patient. he suffered massive abdominal injuries at the maryland factory job when he was caught in a conveyer belt. >> we will keep an eye on that.
4:32 am
>> his cousin peter translates into the creole of their native haiti. but rimshaw treats cancer. why is he here? dr. john renshaw is deploying to the frontlines of stafghanistano treat the war wounded. before he goes, he along with other medical personnel, will complete a tour at the university of maryland trauma center in baltimore. sharpening their ability to deal with critical trauma patients. >> the worunds appear to be superfici superficial. >> trauma. >> trooper one. 15 up. ten minutes back. category a. priority one. >> every day, dozens of trauma patients are wheeled into the
4:33 am
bays. some are accident victims. this young man came with multiple stab wounds. right alongside the civilian trauma doctors, nurses and techs and military personnel. >> the injuries that i treated here are the closest thing to the injuries i saw in iraq that i experienced in the continental united states. >> listen to what powers has encountered in recent weeks. >> a gentleman had his scalp torn off. a crash victim where i recreated the cranial vault like i had to do with an i.e.d. blast. >> he teaches other military colleagues his specialty. he notes many deploying military
4:34 am
personnel from state side bases don't regularly see critical trauma cases. >> what does an air force person or tech learn before they go to the war zone? >> all of the basic skill set they need in the early phases after injury and the ability to manage that patient air way. treating bleeding and hemorrhage. >> the skills will come back home with them. he said the war led to advances controlling bleeding and monitoring fluids and wearing for brain injuries. >> these are lessons we are learning on the battlefields of afghanistan and iraq. it can be translated to civilian care. >> this lieutenant colonel is a flight surgeon. >> expect to be a jack of all trades. we are not deployed and i'm an outpatient internal medicine guy.
4:35 am
>> before getting to afghanistan, he says, this will help him learn to prioritize multiple critical patients under battlefield conditions and sharpen his ability to make rapid decisions. >> i expect to see gunshot wounds. i expect to see traumatic brain injuries from explosive devices. it means burns as well. a lot of orthopedic injuries and really some horrific stuff. what i'm doing here is getting exposure to the things i will be seeing over there. it is an immersion in a high-volume trauma center. >> you may not realize it, but treating the war wounded has long before a source of knowledge for all doctors. >> there has been a century long interplay with the civilian and military care. in many ways, trauma surgeons have learned from military conflict than any other component of care. >> as the patient continues to
4:36 am
recover, the doctor says the training he receives here is vital. >> this gives me exposure to the trauma mind set to know what to look out for, pitfalls to avoid. procedures i need to get my skills back up. >> joining us is barbara starr. you know, it is one of the things i wonder, no matter how much you prepare, it will be completely different. you have seen this firsthand in afghanistan and iraq. were they nervous? did they feel well prepared? >> i think the doctors were happy to have the 30--day tour of duty before they went to the combat zone. it began to show them what they will be facing over there. as you saw in the piece, one of the doctors is an oncologist. he treats cancer patients. he is learning how to put in chest tubes and control bleeding and restore breathing when
4:37 am
someone may be so traumatically injured. they have that trouble. it is the kind of thing doctors may not have done since they were interns or residents. they are getting back to the basic skills and learning how to step it up and move fast and make decisions fast. >> people forget that. as an oncologist, you are not taking care of traumatic patients on a daily basis. when you go to afghanistan, you cannot paint it with one broad brush. do they know which settings they are going to be in ahead of time? >> some did and some did not. they will be doing a variety of jobs. one thing that is going on at shock trauma, they have regular medical cars with the war zone every week. they are asking how they treat it and how they need to fix the training program. it is a dynamic environment. everybody is always on the move trying to stay up with the latest. >> that is fascinating.
4:38 am
you have a perfect idea, you think, of what you will face and it is different. the conference calls really help. >> they do. or they tell us they do. i think what really has emerged from everything you and i have been talking about is if you have to go to your local emergency room or your community hospital or doctor, the chances are you will encounter someone that has done a tour of duty in the war zone. there are thousands of medical personnel that have served. they have come back home fanning out across the country. the war is not so far away. >> that is right. it is a unique experience for the doctors. thanks so much. you may want to stick around for this as well. we will talk to a man who stirred up controversy running a life and death experience for the army. we will explain. of ptein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh...
4:39 am
what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. and today, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream faster
4:40 am
and rushes relief right to the site of your tough pain. ♪ in fact, it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. extra strength pain relief, twice as fast. aflac! oh, i've just got major medical... major medical. ...but it helps pay the doctors. pays the doctors, boyyy! [ quack ] oh yeah? what about your family? ♪ we added aflac, so we get cash! it's like our safety net... ♪ to help with the mortgage or whatever we need! so my family doesn't feel the pain too. ha! [ male announcer ] help protect your family at aflac.com. [ pigeons ] heyyy! hooo!!!
4:41 am
[ dr. ling ] i need to get the results from the m.r.i. see if the blood work is ready. review ms. cooper's history. and i want to see katie before she goes home. [ male announcer ] with integrated healthcare solutions from dell, every patient file is where dr. ling needs it. now she can spend more time with patients and less time on paperwork. ♪ dell. the power to do more. you know, the advances in military medicine in the past ten years as war have been nothing short of as stotonishin. joining me to talk about this is dr. john holcomb.
4:42 am
thank you for being on the show again. >> sanjay, it is nice to hear from you again. >> as a starting point, can you talk about some of the things that have changed over the last ten years? what we are starting to learn from the battlefield and learn at home? >> that is a great question. you have to divide this up into different areas. i think of advances in the pre--hospital area. advances in the hospital and advances from the system view across the battlefield and advances from the research view and how it comingles with the civilian community. >> let's take pre-hospitals from a starting point. the way the patient is assessed in the field at the point of trauma. can you share what we have learned on the battlefield?
4:43 am
>> i think at the beginning of the war, we put in place a lot of people working together tourniquets on the battlefield and the hemostatic dressings. the dressings that stop bleeding. they are better than the gauze or dressings that were available for year. those three devices have been implemented in the civilian communities around the world. some places more than others. starting to spread like wildfire across the united states. >> what about within the hospital within itself? when they come to see you as a trauma surgeon, what may be different? >> i think the general consensus is the way the patients are resuscitated. you will see the people in the hospital hanging clear bags of fluid. then starting red cells and then plasma and platelets. what many places do now, as soon as the patient comes in, you
4:44 am
don't hang the clear fluid, you hang plasma and platelets. what we are seeing is not level one data. we are seeing it appears to be associated with outcomes and decreased blood products. using them earlier may decrease the amount. >> you may not need them later on. let me ask you a broader question. is it easier to innovate on the battlefield? >> that is a difficult question. the rules for research and innovation with the same as they are back home with the review boards and et cetera. what is different on the battlefield is the number of seriously injured patients is three to four times greater than we see in the civilian community.
4:45 am
the other major difference in the battlefield, the doctors and nurses are living together and eating together. all you do is work, eat and sleep and occasionally workout. it is a simple lifestyle. focused on patients. i think that, you know, lifestyle and the larger number of injured patients coming in is what causes innovations to spring from war. >> if you have the situations of war where you have mass casualties and you have some situations with fewer resources as a result of the setting in which these doctors are practicing and nurses, are they forced into a different way? when you talk about advances being made on the battlefield, why, if it is the same, do they occur on the battlefield versus civilian populations? >> it goes back to what we just talked about. all you do on the battlefield all day long is how to do things
4:46 am
better. there is no other -- it is a caldron of innovation and desire to take better care of the next patient. it is a different environment where everybody is thinking c constantly of how to do better the next hour or the next day. >> do you think that there is enough resources, money being spent on medical research, in battlefield situations? >> i think medical research for trauma in general is under funded. trauma is the leading cause of death in the united states in civilians in ages 1 to 44. it has been well documented for the last 40 to 50 years by the institute. the society impact of injury is unbelievable and the amount of funding from the agencies is an
4:47 am
insignificant impact on society. if we studied the civilian world when the war started, we with know the best way to resuscitate patients. those were the conversations we had with the officials when they came to san antonio. you have to deal with that so when the war starts, you have the level one data and know how best to take care of the injured. what we are seeing is a backwards issue. we are starting to do the studies now. >> thanks for being with us. i appreciate it. coming up, facing your fears. would you believe the man flying this plane was terrified of small, confined spaces. hear how he beat it. that is next.
4:48 am
[ bell tolls ] agents, these crustaceans are like gold to a restaurant owner. so? water damage can spell disaster for a small business. and restaurants have over 4 million slip and falls every year. that's why we work with our clients and help them find coverage for stuff like this. oh! hey, what are you going to do with these guys? we'll release them into the wild so they can live long, fulfilling lives. aw, really? no. [ male announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers ♪ bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum ♪
4:49 am
4:50 am
want you to imagine something. you've got severe claustrophobia, a real fire of tight places. now imagine your job is to get into a seat the size of an arm chair, lean back, strapped in tight on all sides with the ceiling just a foot over your head. sounds fun, right?
4:51 am
most people would want to scream. but air force lieutenant colonel rob waldman has faced his fears. and he did it the hard way. >> one two zero. >> screaming engines, mind-numbing speeds of over 1900 miles an hour. this was lieutenant colonel waldman's daily ride. he had what many would consider one of the coolest jobs in the world. >> it's an amazing jet. >> but an innocent diving trip would change everything. >> three years into my flying year i almost died in a scuba accident in the caribbean. >> 30 feet underwater, rob's scuba mask broke. physically he was fine, but mentally he was shaken to the core. he developed severe claustrophobia. >> so if you can imagine barely being able to move with this helmet and mask on, gloves, your head two inches from the canopy. you're like in a little coffin, enough for a guy with
4:52 am
claustrophobia to really feel pan automaticy. i had to live with this fear of having a panic attack. >> but a panic attack while going mock 0 two would be devastating. >> when you're strapped into a jet, you can't say pause, on combat missions where there was a job to do and my wing needed me, there was no abort button for me. >> ultimately, he said it was family and faith that helped him overcome his fears. >> i would simulate the environment i would be in before the flight and say okay, i may have a panic attack here. how am i going to deal with it. i would look down at my collect list and i saw a picture of my niece and nephew and said i've got to get home for them. >> now waldo says he's kicked claustrophobia for good. >> i think about the challenge and personal growth that il had because i took a risk to fly that plane. i didn't want to look back on my life and say if i only had courage to take action, i could
4:53 am
have flown the coolest jet in the world which in my opinion is the lockheed martin f-16. >> i've flown in one of these jets before and it is pretty fright ning. thanks a lot for sharing your story with us. up next, we're going to introduce you to a doctor who takes care of kids looking to set a better example for them. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. if you have painful, swollen joints, i've been in your shoes. one day i'm on p of the world... the next i'm saying... i have this thing called psoriatic arthritis. i had some intense pain. it progressively got worse. my rheumatologist told me about enbrel.
4:54 am
i'm surprised how quickly my symptoms have been managed. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. get back to the things that matter most. good job girls. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you.
4:55 am
4:56 am
checking in now and another member of our six-pack. we first met dr. scott zon when he submitted his video to be part of our triathlon challenge after his own doctor put him on medications for high cholesterol and high blood pressure. we did tell you after just a few months of training with us, he was able to stop taking one of
4:57 am
those medications. another good update from scott. he weighed 270 pounds when this began and has dropped now to less than 200. for the first time in a long time. i'm not sure how long it's been. i'm going to ask him, dr. scott joins us from green bay, wisconsin. hey, doc, how you doing? >> doing good. >> so how long has it been since you weighed below 200? >> i was trying to figure that out. it's been at least probably since college. so i'm 46 so at least 20 years. >> wow. that's got to feel pretty good, i'm sure. you're also able to run, i guess you say nine-minute miles, which is -- it's quite remarkable. you weren't running a lot before. how does it just feel to be coming that athletic? >> i really wasn't running much at all. i probably couldn't run a mile. to be running nine i minute miles for me is incredible. i never thought i would get to that point. i have lots of energy, the things i'm able to accomplish
4:58 am
now, i never thought that i would get to this point. >> the what has been the hardest part? have there been walls that people talk about the proverbial wall that you hit in the midst of your training? did you hit that, and how did you get through it, if you did? >> i've hit some walls just really sore and achy. didn't really think that i could, you know, even get up the next day to work out and just kind of worked my way through it. just exercised more, changed my routine a little bit, and that helped me to get through some of those walls. >> you're a doctor. you take care of kids primarily. has there been a reaction from your patients to seeing you, the physical difference new and just your attitude? the teenagers have the inned it, but probably more the parents have noticed. some i haven't seen for six months or a year and they're shocked when i walk in the door. that's kind of a cool thing to see, you know, the reactions that i get when the i walk in
4:59 am
and they're surprised at how different i look. >> yeah, i bet. i mean, i'm just even looking at you, it's quite a transformation. the question i get all the time, i want to ask you as well, you're a doctor, you have a wife, have you four children. you're a busy guy, and yet you have made this time to incorporate this the triathlon training into your life. no small commitment. how do you do it? what's the advice you would give to other people? >> well, you got to put it as a priority in your life. equal to everything else. work and family and friends. i get up earlier in the morning and get in a lot of workouts in before i have to come to the office. the other thing i do is i'm working out a lot with friends and family. so i'm -- i'm working out and spending time with those people at the same time. >> you know, it's interesting because i do a lot of the same things. i try and take my kids who are very young but sometimes they come along on the workouts with

184 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on